Stihl RE 130 Plus

Not long out of warranty the gun blew a plastic fitting and had to be replaced. Shortly after, the hose fitting on the cleaner, to connect the hose too, broke and leaked water. The pump turned on and when I got back it had basically melted the pump and internals making it a throw away item. Surely a heat sensing thermostat could be installed to… Read more

automatically shut down the unit when it over heats. Disappointed and I'm not sure whether to buy Stihl again.

Not good Stihl – Like other users I now have no time for this brand of pressure washer (Purchased based on the fact that I've had a variety of brilliant Stihl chainsaws) This unit has seen little use, a few hours total in just over 2 years, and when working it was very good, great pressure, easy to store hose etc. However the valve in the handle split. This highly… Read more

stressed part is made of flimsy (read thin) plastic. Engineers should be able to see this coming...and maybe they did, perhaps the accountants over rode them. I'll get this fixed but I'll have little faith in the product. I'll go back to Karcher in due course.

Stihl RE130 Plus – I have owned the unit for approx 2 years & used to clean cars & pathways. Used in total about 20hrs. The trigger failed on the third use & found the plastic trigger valve had split. I contacted the dealer & was given a new handle from a new unit on the showroom floor because the replacement had not arrived after 3 months. The same valve has just… Read more

failed again in the exact same manner as the first valve. This is a design fault & should be recalled & an updated model supplied. I will advise again when I contact Stihl & see what is offered. The unit otherwise has been faultless.

Updated : Stihl Pressure washer failed on 5th use, Poor quality components for a 'premium' brand – I have owned the unit for less than 1 year for light duty use only - washing cars and concrete driveway. We have been building a house so I got it as a gift before we moved in (have hardly used it) on the 5th time I used the Re130 the washer/O-ring seal has disintegrated between they hose and the handle/trigger unit. Stihl market their products… Read more

to be of a higher/premium quality but use cheap parts like any regular Karcher from Bunnings etc. As a fact, I had a $199 Karcher for 12 years that took an absolute hiding. This has been babied in contrast.

Its an absolute hassle to cart it around and then wait for any parts through their non customer friendly warranty. I have to take this to a dealer, leave it there and then wait for it. Go back and pick it up and then accept the likehood for it to fail again given how cheaply it's been put together,

Should you as a consumer expect that a mid-high end pressure washer should fail on the 5th use and approximate 4 hour run time? Do yourself a favour and give Stihl a miss, the reviews here mean something and there's a pattern noting the poor quality of the item. I expected something much higher quality.

The RE130 offers nothing greater than other more mainstream units. In fact many of the cheaper ones offer a better warranty term and offer replacement etc.

UPDATE:

The dealer noted the issue and advised the newer wands now fitted to their units had internal brass fittings which should reduce the chance of it happening again.

Whilst I can’t see inside the wand i have since used it about 10-20 times and it’s performed flawlessly, I actually like the unit as it performs well and has good features so am hoping it stays that way, the dealer also after waiting for parts ended up swapping me a new wand from a new stock item in store.

Further update:

Broke apart again, Consumer affairs, Stihl couldn’t give two tosses about their customers either. Warranty just tells you to speak to dealer.

Just out of warranty and has pump issues – I bought Stihl for the name as I’ve been using their chainsaws for decades. My 130 plus is lucky to be used once a month so approximately 25 uses.. water now pouring out of the pump and no pressure.. Not worth the bill to pay for repairs, hence I might go with gerni instead. That’s if they aren’t making them in the same factory, for a$ 600 washer I expected more from the Stihl brand considering my last Different brand lasted 12 years.. Show details

Waiting on my 2nd replacement – Have had one replaced so far and am still waiting on the second (Will be my third machine in under 12 months). The first had the main seal on pump fail before I even started using it, the second ran for about 5 minutes then stopped, after switching it off for half an hour it started again for about 5 mins then stopped again. I thought maybe a… Read more

thermal overload could be the issue but after taking it to store they suggested possibly using an extension lead (which I don't) or too long of a garden hose to feed the pump but I confirmed it is only 10m hose. Dropped it back at the store 15th Aug 2020 it's now early Oct and have not heard anything.

Learn from my experience folks – Canadian here. Bought one last year. Lasted 20 minutes. There is a spring on the pump that kicks in if there is an issue and shuts down the pump to protect it. Dealer gave ma another one to replace it. Good on them. The machine I had as factory defective so the spring was replaced for free. Fair enough. So, now machine # 2 .... I have moved to… Read more

Ottawa now . so new people to deal with. Except .. it happened again ,,,, and once again it was replaced for free. Now I'm annoyed . but hopefully it was the end. Not so fast .. so this time (3) when it died I waited for 3 weeks for the part . covid issue of course ... but this time . the screen had fallen out where the hose attached . of course I didn't know that ... so the dealer replaced the spring , the valve, and the filter to put it back into factory shape. Fair enough .. but not for $100.00 when I paid $350 for it last year.

Other things you should know . called another dealer and whined about my experience . he really knew his stuff . First off .. pressure washers need to be babied. They must be properly drained when stored INSIDE in cold weather. Freeze the pump ,,, it is toast. Second . and really important ... DO NOT turn on the pump of ANY pressure washer unless the water is flowing TO it.... not just HOOKED to it. The pump is designed to suck water . not air ... this can kill it too.

Learn from my experience folks. Not ready to diss Stihl products . I have lots . they work well. But be aware of issues and conduct yourselves accordingly.

Poor Quality Product - Even Worse Customer Service – I originally purchased the Stihl RE130 because of Stihl's reputation for Quality, though now I would not recommend the brand to anyone. I have given a 1 star review mainly due to their poor customer service and their efforts to protect their false reputation. The unit itself worked well when it was working, however I may have only got 1-2 hours of… Read more

total use compared to 7 weeks waiting for repairs.

My RE130 Pressure Cleaner didn't last 5 minutes before it failed. I returned it to the dealer who told me that despite it being faulty straight off the showroom floor, they would not replace it as Stihl's policy was to repair it as their first option. The dealer assessed the unit and found a non return valve had collapsed and although only being a $15 part, I was asked to wait a month for the part to arrive which I quickly declined. I was irate that a unit only minutes into being used for the first time, could fail and that I had now spent $600 for a refurbished machine and a months wait. After a couple of days of back and forth the dealer rather than replacing the unit, removed parts from a new unit on the shelf to fix the faulty one. I couldn't believe they would break a new unit to repair a faulty one! Upon receiving the unit back again it lasted for a further 4 uses over the next 2 months before failing again, this time a major pump failure. The dealer again said that Stihl would not come to the party for a replacement and that there were no parts available to fix the unit. They advised that I contact Stihl and threaten to post a scathing review on facebook as this was the only way to get their attention and force them to act. I initially called the Stihl Australia head office, which fell on deaf ears and was told that this is the way it is everywhere and "no company" would offer a replacement. Stihl completely backed their no replace or refund policy rather than backing the quality of their products. I finally sent an email threatening poor reviews as advised by the dealer, which resulted in a full refund within a couple of days. Stihl did not respond to my email, however had the dealer contact me directly to arrange the refund. This second saga spanned over 6 weeks and was completely unnecessary, if Stihl had only backed their products and provided actual customer service.